Tuesday, November 23, 2010

The temptation, after blowing a two-goal lead to lose a game we thought well in hand, is to start looking for a culprit. Gomez was lost in space, we say. Subban completely blew his defensive assignment on the winner, we cry. The whole team stopped skating after the first and gave up the game, we grouse.

Sometimes, though, it's not as much a matter of what your team does wrong as what the other team does right. As much as we hate to admit it, the Canadiens can learn some things from the Flyers.

Last night, in the first, the Flyers fell back into their own zone and let the Canadiens buzz around. They recognized the Habs were carrying the puck into the offensive zone rather than dumping and chasing, so in the second period they adjusted and started sending three guys out to meet the puck carrier. On many Habs rushes, a simple poke-check ended the threat and turned the Flyers back the other way.

The team in orange always had someone going for the crease, and they were very effective in making short, accurate passes out of traffic on the boards. While their stars, like Carter and Richards, didn't have a lot to say about the outcome, their second and third lines provided everything they needed to push back.

The answer, for the Canadiens, should have been some good, energetic shifts by aggressive third and fourth lines of their own. The problem was, they didn't have the people to do it. Lapierre was playing hard all night, but Tom Pyatt's strength is in defending, not attacking. Pouliot and Halpern did their part on the scoreboard, but they're not the types of players who race around hitting and forechecking with abandon. Lars Eller has some jam, but his game isn't the crashing kind. And, it's safe to say the Yannick Weber experiment has been pretty bad. The kid's been thrown into a fourth-line role he doesn't play in Hamilton and onto a power play that's been struggling for most of the year. It's not helping him or the team to play him 11 minutes in that kind of situation.

The other option for the Canadiens to save that game was to switch to a dump-and-chase attack, once it became apparent the puck-carrying strategy wasn't working. Unfortunately, the Canadiens either weren't willing or able to pull that off either. When the team scores four goals in three games, with only one from anybody in the top six, there's a problem. It started when Martin began moving people on and off the Gomez line in order to get the seven-million-dollar man going. Instead, everyone who's ended up on that line has been stone cold as well. Now, the Plekanec/Kostitsyn/Cammalleri line, which had been so effective to start the year is broken up and nobody's scoring.

Jacques Martin wants to bring kids like Eller on slowly, but it may be time to consider playing the kid, who's winning his puck battles and trying futilely to set up his stone-handed linemates for twenty minutes, with good wingers. Let Gomez, who's helping nothing or no one, play with the pluggers. At least that's only one line screwed up instead of all of them.

In any case, Martin's got to stop trying to jump-start Gomez and put the Plekanec line back together. Kostitsyn's size helps create things for the other two, and something's got to give here.

The Canadiens couldn't beat the Flyers in the playoffs last year, for the same reasons why they couldn't beat them last night. The team has been susceptible to a strong forecheck for years now, and still is. It needs some people who can wreak havoc on those third and fourth lines, and it needs to move Gomez off the top-six for a couple of games. The speed/defence game works most of the time, but when the going gets tough, the Habs can't handle it. Somebody's got to start crashing, and somebody's got to start scoring. The Flyers showed the Canadiens how that's done. Over to you, Gauthier.

The Habs just don't have the horses to win puck battles on the boards. The Flyers are loaded with them and as a result dominate the Habs in every game. Gomez and Cammalleri are weak on the boards and should never be on the ice at the same time. They just end up spending their shift in their own end. Darche was needed last night not Weber. Bench Darche against a soft opponent not the Flyers.

Fully agree with the Gomez assessment. Spacek was sent a message and responded. It's time for Gomez to get one because he's hurting not helping the team. Put the Pleks line back together, let Eller play along side Gionta and Pouliot and see what happens. I understand that people get hurt and players have to learn to be interchangeable but experiment in less meaningful games. Lapierre's goals were soft and the Flyer goals were beauties. This game could have been a whitewash. The Flyers sleepwalked through the first period. That's the only reason the score was close. Price has faced 90 shots in the two Philly games so the Habs a lucky to have gotten the two points in the first one.

@anon (the one crying over O'Byrne): Well, the big tough D got three chances to make a difference against the same Philly team last playoffs, and earned himself only 8 minutes of ice over those games. Sure, it'd be nice to have a big, tough D, but Ryan O'Byrne isn't him.

J.T., O'Byrne played one game in the Philly series which was Game 3. Going into that game he lead all Dman in hits with 29 despite playing 6 fewer games. O'Byrne in preseason was off the charts in the strength tests. At 6'5" and 245lbs. you think he is not tough???? He is averaging close to 20 minutes a game in Colorado. Thankfully they don't share JM's and your opinion of O'Byrne. Earned? JM does not allocate ice time according to what is earned. Does Gomez ring a bell?

@anon: Check your stats. OB played Games 3,4 and 5 against Philly. And I never said he wasn't tough. He just doesn't use his toughness effectively. He may very well do that at some point, and I always rooted for him and hoped he'd do it in Montreal. Don't think I share Martin's opinion of him. In any case, O'Byrne had many chances to stick in the lineup in Montreal, but through injury, poor play or dumb mistakes, he saw more bench than ice. I hope it changes for him in Colorado.

Our defence isnt tough. We have five skill players and Hal Gill. When the going gets tough we fold. If that isnt changed we wont get to the finals.

Gomez is dragging down the whole set of forwards. The Pleks line is disrupted and now no-one is scoring. All of this because you cant bench a $7M veteran or put him on the fourth line.

Eller is playing with pluggers. The kid is the second best center on the team. Give him Gionta and Pouliot to work with and see what happens. But because of politics he gets stuck with Lapierre, Moen or Darche.

You said it. In his defense: Gomez might have a condition that isn't apparent to us as fans. Maybe his vision has been clouded by his guilt over the contract so much that he can't see his team mates. Or maybe in practice he accidently hurt someone with his shot so he lays off. Me I think his helmet is too loose. He should do a Theodore and get some bulk up there to stop it banging around and causing an echo that distracts him. I can't help but think how great he'd do in a San Jose uniform, or LA. A bona fide US home grown all stare would put butts firmly in their seats down there.

Amazing how perceptions differ. Watched the Philly broadcast and the color analyst noted Subban apparently got Richards' message and toned down his play. To me, it looked like the Flyer attempt to intimidate the kid didn't work and Richards and the boys toned down their game. Go figure.

Have to admit that the Flyers are terrific though. Seems like they can turn up the heat and the Habs can't handle it.

Totally agree on Gomez. To beat Montreal, you just have to shut down Plekanc right now. That won't cut it all season or in the playoffs. Halpern is scoring at a second line pace while on the third line so far, so I would give him a chance with Pouliot and Kostitsyn. Eller still looks lost at times in his own end, so I don't think he is ready to play 15-20 mins against the other team's top line. If Gomez starts scoring on the third line, then you can put him back on the top two. If he doesn't, he is an awesome third line centre- if you don't consider the salary. Seeing that he is un-tradable, the Habs will have to find the right place for him, which may be third line shutdown/energy line and PK duty. At least that would be helping the team; keeping him on the second line is not helping so far.

Part of the reason Eller sometimes looks lost is that so much of his work and good positional play results in turnovers because his wingers cant play with him. Better wingers will maintain control and generate scoring opportunities but instead we get Pyatt muffing or another winger not being open.

About Me

My name is Leigh Anne Power, and I am a Habs fan. I'm kind of obsessed, so even though the world doesn't need another Habs blog, I can't help it. If you choose to follow this blog on Twitter, it's at @habsloyalist. The link's below.